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Denver DPS Board Candidate Survey The survey has seven parts and should take you approximately 20-30 minutes to complete. You will not be able to exit the survey and save your answers so please plan accordingly. All responses and comments will be made public in their full form. If you have any questions or problems, please contact Liz Platz (liz@aplusdenver.org or 920-698-0848). Please submit the survey no later that 5pm on Monday, August 12. We will notify you when the survey is published. 1. Please enter your contact information below so we can keep you informed about the survey publication. Name: Rosario C de Baca

Part 1: Current Denver Public Schools Strategy and Goals 2. Rate the following statements on a scale of 1-4, where 1=strongly disagree and 4=strongly agree. Strongly Strongly Disagree Agree The districts reform efforts are on pace to meet the needs of most students X The districts reform efforts are moving in the right direction X Current leadership is moving the district in the right direction X 3. Choose one answer to complete the following statement: The districts academic achievement goals in reading, writing and math forecast 3.5% improvement per year per grade, these goals Are about right X Need to be raised Need to be lowered Should be raised for those students who are significantly below proficiency

 Part 2: Teaching and Learning 4. Rate the following statements on a scale of 1-4, where 1=strongly disagree and 4=strongly agree. Strongly Strongly Disagree Agree Teachers have the right to tenure after three years of effective teaching Tenure is currently too easy to obtain DPS is doing an effective job recruiting, supporting and retaining strong school leaders DPS should utilize outside, objective evaluators to determine what is and is not working (e.g. programs) relative to its achievement goals The districts literacy and math programs are effective 5. Choose one answer to complete the following statement: The primary factor in teacher pay and employment should be: Student success and achievement as measured by student outcomes Experience and educational attainment X Student achievement that carries nearly equal weight as teacher experience and educational attainment X X X X X

Part 3: Accountability 6. Rate the following statements on a scale of 1-4, where 1=strongly disagree and 4=strongly agree. Strongly Strongly Disagree Agree I support district and state level accountability measures that require schools to show academic achievement ACT and college remediation scores should be included in school and district accountability measures as long as the resources to do so are available All new school proposals, whether for charter, innovation or district- managed schools, should be held to the same standards 7. Do you support a change in the superintendent position at DPS? Yes X No X X X

 Part 4: Interventions 8. Rate the following statement on a scale of 1-4, where 1=strongly disagree and 4=strongly agree. Strongly Strongly Disagree Agree When schools are failing most of their students, DPS must intervene more X quickly and boldly 9. If a school performs in the bottom 5% of schools in the district, it should be phased out or replaced (with new programming, leadership and/or governance model) after receiving additional supports for: 0-2 years X 3-5 years 5-7 years I dont believe schools should be phased out/replaced or closed

Part 5: School finance 10. Rate the following statements on a scale of 1-4, where 1=strongly disagree and 4=strongly agree. Strongly Strongly Disagree Agree I support Initiative 66 (School Finance Act) Innovation schools should have full control over their budgets, staffing, and programming I support a tool that shows both spending at the school level and achievement gains to show taxpayers the return on investment at the school level X X X

Part 6: School Type and Choice 11. Rate the following statements on a scale of 1-4, where 1=strongly disagree and 4=strongly agree.
Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

Charters should have equal access to district facilities Co-location of charters and district-managed schools is a good strategy for efficiently using resources as long as attention is paid to ensuring schools work well together and equitably share facilities

 The district should support a combination of high quality charter and district managed schools I support using Innovation status for schools that need extra tools to improve student success The current enrollment process is working as intended Students should almost always attend their closest boundary school We must put more resources into improving boundary schools Boundary schools should get more resources per student than district charter or innovation schools I would seriously consider a proposal to allow equal opportunities for students to attend any school in the district, regardless of their closest boundary school (e.g. Open some seats in all boundary schools for students living outside that neighborhood) X X X X X X X

Part 7: Free Response 12. What are your two highest priorities for education in DPS? Democratic decision making by parents and faculty in decisions that affect their students and schools so that we can ensure quality education for all children 13. What do you believe is the most important role a school board member plays? A school board member must represent and inform the community that students and faculty are providing all the resources necessary to educate children and prepare them to succeed as adults. Transparency and support by the board member to meet the needs and concerns of all in the particular district. 14. What was the most important vote/decision made by the DPS School Board in 2012/2013 school year? Why? School closures were huge decisions. Civic engagement is essential and DPS should nurture this from the time. Entire communities were informed that they are not considered capable of exercising their voice in the decisions that affect the future of their children. It was devastating to tell communities their children would be displaced because their school would be closed in spite of pleas to keep their neighborhood school open. To further add insult, parents and educators did not have a voice in the design of the students future school. How can a district believe we prepare children for responsibility or tell students we expect them to plan and choose careers and then obstruct them, their parents and teachers and deny their opportunity to save their neighborhood school? The district tells children in low-income and minority areas that their role in civic life does not matter. 15. Please provide a short bio with some key information about yourself. Community engagement has defined Rosario C. de Bacas life. As a young woman she volunteered in health clinics and with the United Farm Workers when Cesar Chavez was

 organizing for the safety of workers. Rosario involved community members from Denver and Colorado and professionals throughout the country in planning disease prevention and health promotion programs and obtained funding from foundations, state and federal sources to carry them out. As an active parent, Rosario worked to bring parents and community members to meet with teachers and school administrators to find community driven solutions to our schools. She served in DPS CDM committees at Gust and West, District SIAC, Arts Council, Gifted Education Council, was appointed by the board to the DPS Citizens Committee for Bond Expenditures (CCBE), and appointed by the State Board of Education to the State Gifted Education Advisory Committee.

16. What schools did/do your children attend? My 5 children are graduates of DPS and they attended the following public schools: Eagleton Elementary, Gust Elementary, Horace Mann MS, Morey MS, Denver School of the Arts, West HS, George Washington IB, East HS. 17. We welcome any comments or questions regarding this survey. I am thankful to DPS ECE to AP teachers, school security, nurses, psychologists, principals and so many caring instructional support staff who taught my 5 children. Denver is a beautiful city rightfully proud to have neighborhood libraries, parks, arts venues and a national model for integrated health care. Yet the district that hinders aspirations of students in middle and working class neighborhoods by not locating strong magnet programs equally in all quadrants of the district finds many ways to spend more on closing failing schools. Even as Denver grew and diversified, DPS diminished opportunities for students when it closed a very successful magnet at Horace Mann MS that one of my children attended. Colorado boasts the expertise and achievements of Dr. Temple Grandin, but families of special needs students lack a strong role in developing instructional programs for DPS. A Humble Thank you for this survey opportunity!